Cheap drill bits anyone
 

Recently had cause to need a 9.9mm drill bit, tapping size for my 7/16" UNF seat belt bosses.

Knowing I would not find this size easy localy, I turned to ebay & found this fella selling Dewalt HSS jobber bits.

Ebay drill bits

I can honestly say that the quality is far better than the odd Bosch drill bits that I have bought in B&Q in the past :rolleyes:

Looking at the 12.5 mm drill bits, I wold pay more than that for a single one localy :eek:

Bored my bosses using one of the 9.9mm ones in my lathe, with the customary abuse that is normal when I am in charge of a lathe :o
Still good & sharp.

I have bought several packs for my stock :)

jobber bits are not so good for steel work as thay are a long allrounder bit somthing to do with flute pitch
we used dommer bits and thay where a wizz not cheep tho

Kinda missing the point there Baz.

Anyone who has ever been anywhere near an egineering enviroment, would know that drill bits don't come any better than Dormer or the likes.

The point was, in my particular case, finding a top brand 9.9mm drill bit would be either expensive or too much hassle & expensive :eek:

My options, buy a dormer drill bit on line, about £9 + £3 - £5 Postage.

Call my local steel stock holder & here's how that would go

Me .. " Hello, have you a Dormer 9.9mm drill bit"
Them .. " I am sorry, the person you need to talk to is busy, i'll get them to call you back " You know when you drop the phone down that they won't !!??

Following day, call the stockholder again,
Me .. " Hello, someone was going to get back to me yesterday re: a 9.9mm Dormer drill bit "
Them .. " I am very sorry about that sir, i'll get them to call you straight back " .... " Errrm, what's your number again, I seem to have lost it " Once again you know thay wont !!??

Following day, Jump in the Jeep & go there in person, knowing full well that they would not have that size in stock .... £6 worth of Diesel down the pan ?
Me .. " Have you a 9.9mm dormer drill bit "
Them .. " No we do not stock that size "
Me .. " Please may I order one "
Them " We can get one in for you but it may take a week or two & you will have to pay upfront as it's a special order " or " You'll have to wait untill we order our next batch & you will still have to pay upfront "

After parting with the cash, probably £12 - £15 you'll hear the dreadded words, " We'll give you a call when it arrives "
If you want to know how that will go, just re read the above :D

Your probably thinking by now .... FFS just use another steel stock holder !!??

The reason is, next stockholder is more than 40 miles away & I will pay almost double the price for steel stock.

Ebay drill bits ?? 10 X 9.9mm decent quality drill bits, delivered to my home for the princely sum of £9.37 & I never even got out of my chair.

Used & abused One, still plenty of life left in it .... Done what it said on the tin, bored the holes, cleanly & to the correct tapping size ;)

When one of my lads grabs one to use when they are roofing, drill through a piece of wood & stuff it into the masonary, will I be gutted, no,not at that price :)

Bonzo
me old mate
if you had had your thinking head on :rolleyes:
you could of gone to your old biscuit tin of old imperial drills
( i bet you,ve got one , you old squirrel i know i have)
and pulled out the 23/64ths that is hiding in there
would of saved you a bit of cash
or you could of give me a shout there are several rolling around
in my tin
cheers les g :D

Your probably right Les me old mucker, yes, I have tins & boxes of imperial stuff all over the place :D

Did have a token look but must admit, didn't look none to hard :o

Believe it or not, I do keep a set of decent bits for the usual metric taping sizes & even keep em in the tubes, only to be used for that purpose .... Woe betide if either of the two lads use em !!??

All of that said, I have a dreadfull track record of abusing my general purpose drill bits though :D

I will admit to one & all .... Couldn't sharpen a drill bit to save my life, yes I know it is suposed to be easy but never managed to get the hang of it ??

One thing is for sure, if I have ever given a drill bit a wee sharpen, it'll give a piece of metal, a very nasty rub followed by the end of the drill bit turning bright Red :o

Just ordered a set. :D need to make some packers to allow me to use the 7.5" granada diff. Nice find!

i hate using jobber bits in the lathe you can actually see them twisting when you put them under a bit of load. i have gradually gone through all my drills and replaced them with dormer ones. im a bit sad though i have nice drills for using the in the lathe and cheepo ones for general abuse.

i use these guys http://www.drill-service.co.uk/ they always sell top quality drills for a fair price and lucky for me they are 2mins down the road from work.

when you got some good ones at least you can sharpen them :) all you need is a bench grinder and a bit of knack

made a few nice spechal drills out of old quality drills like grinding an old one into a spotweld drill works wounders

know what your on about bonzo but you do have to watch the flute pitch and length when using them on steel or in a lathe thay have a habit of braking if your not careful

humm hows a spot welding drill work?

Bonzo
me old mucker dont worry i am absolutely anal when it comes to my engineering tools .......
i also have my special drills ,taps, and lathe tools some of them still never used (sigh i know thats sad but i also have my favourites i guess you understand )
never mind eh!!!!!!!!
next time i,m down yours make sure your you have a good wheel on your bench grinder and i,ll show you how easy it is to sharpen a drill straight swop for 1/2/3 of Mrs Bonzo,s finest brews
i bet i can get an old hand like you to master it on your 4th go
hows that for a fair swop
cheers les g